We hope you'll never become a client. That's why we also provide Pre-Investment Investigations. Before you entrust your hard-earned money to anyone, ask questions. We can help you check-out the brokers, the promoters, or the deal itself, so that you won't become a victim of investment fraud.

Have you seen that TV commercial showing the man and woman sitting on the seashore? The man says "if we juggle some things in the portfolio, we can make that vacation home happen sooner?" Then the woman's husband, who's also there on the beach, sits up and says "sweet!" Or the one where the broker is in the hospital visiting the brand-new baby?

These advertisements are dangerously misleading, because they make you think that a stockbroker's goals are your goals.

Beware of stockbrokers bearing "titles" such as "financial consultant," "financial advisor," or "investment consultant." Unless they use the term "certified financial planner" or "registered investment advisor," your "financial advisor" is simply a salesperson.

Stockbrokers are held to lower standards than "financial planners" or "registered investment advisors," and these lower standards permit a broker's first loyalty to be with his or her brokerage firm, not the client. That's an important, if subtle, distinction when it comes to your money!